290 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



times within a distance of less than a hundred yards, and 

 with apparently as much ease as on land : they all came 

 direct in from the sea from a south-westerly direction, and 

 seemed to aim for the entrance of the harbour between the 

 piers, thout;h there were plenty of them came on shore on 

 each side of the piers. The shore was covered with a coarse 

 sort of Italian rye-grass, on which they were resting when we 

 returned home, and in walking through the tall grass they 

 rose in myriads. I was in hopes I might have been lucky 

 enough to have picked out the rare Daplidice, but four out 

 of every six were the common Brassicae. I never before 

 witnessed the arrival of such large numbers, and I felt very 

 much interested in it. — T. Tliorncroft ; 87, North Lane, 

 Brighton, July 4, 1865. 



194. Pachyfa livida at Birch Wood: its potver of resist- 

 ing laurel-poison. — Among the rarities procured at Birch 

 Wood on the occasion of the Anniversary Meeting of the 

 Entomological Ckib, I may mention Pachyta livida, which 

 occurred very commonly on umbelliferous flowers ; and 

 when it was transferred to the laurel-bottle was totally in- 

 different to the fumes of prussic acid, or rather seemed to 

 enjoy them, buzzing about in the bottle whenever it was 

 placed in the sunshine, otherwise nestling quietly among the 

 laurel: this resistance of poison continued until 11 o'clock 

 in the evening, when another method of killing was adopted. 

 — Edward Newman. 



195. T/ie Larvae of Zygana Filipendulai a favourite Food 

 of the Hoopoe. — A fine male hoopoe was brought me a i'ew 

 days ago by a friend, who had just shot it on Streatham Com- 

 mon : as another has been seen in the neighbourhood, the 

 poor birds were doubtless breeding. In the ston)ach of the 

 one I have I found seventeen perfect skins of large larvae 

 and a number of the hard head-plates of others, but no re- 

 mains of Coleoj-tera whatever. I enclose two skins of larvae, 

 as 1 took them from the stomach : 1 think you will be able to 

 name the species ; they were all alike. — David T. Button ; 

 Park Rood, Clapham, May 27, 1865. 



[The skins are those of the larva of Zygaena Filipendulae.] 



^^^ No. 17, the Annual Supplementary Number, was pub- 

 lished on the 15ih of July : No. 18, on the 1st of August. 



